dj bean

With Bruins' top six down a man, David Krejci's line comes up big

Patrice Bergeron’s line is looking different these days than the Bruins had planned, so it sure is a good thing that David Krejci’s line appears to have things under control.

With Loui Eriksson out indefinitely with a concussion suffered on Wednesday’s elbow to the head from Sabres forward John Scott, the Bruins played Thursday without one of their top scorers but saw some of their others help deliver a tough-earned 2-1 win over the Sharks.

In a game that the Bruins would have been lucky to take to overtime, the Bruins got both Iginla’s long-awaited first goal as a Bruin and a last-second (literally 0.8 seconds remaining) game-winning goal from Krejci.

It began as a night in which the entire line failed to get a shot on net in the first period, but it ended with yet another strong offensive game for the trio. Krejci’s two-point night gave him 10 points on the season, tying him with Lucic, whose work in the corner on the final play of the game led to Adam McQuaid’s point shot that Krejci tipped past Antti Niemi.

This all came a night after Lucic had two goals, and it came amidst a six-game point streak (two goals, six assists) for Krejci. The trio has been producing, so to address the question of how the line would fare without Nathan Horton, things have been encouraging enough early on.

“It was one of the easier droughts to go through, for sure,” Iginla said after the game. “It’s never easy; you always want to contribute. Your goal is to try to score and try to contribute every game, but the team is winning. It’s definitely good to see Looch is playing well, and Krej, and be a part of their line. I wasn’t thinking about it as much as I would be if we were losing one goal games or whatever. There were a lot of positives to look at.”

Iginla may be getting up there in age (36), but given the fact that he was playing well, putting pucks on net and getting more and more scoring opportunities as the games have gone, there was no real concern that he wouldn’t find a way to start showing up in the goal column.

His luck finally turned late in the second period, when he a whacked the rebound of a Dennis Seidenberg point shot back on net and saw it squeak past Niemi.

“He’s shown that once he gets hot, he gets hot,” Lucic said of Iginla. “Hopefully, this one opens up the floodgates for him. We know it’s going to come for him. You could see it’s starting to come more and more as every game comes along. Obviously, him playing with new linemates, a new system, he’s done real well and he’s going to keep getting better.”

Time will tell how bad Eriksson's concussion is and how long the Bruins will be without his services, but with the winger out, the Bruins will need Krejci’s line to contribute the way it has of late.

That means that the B’s can’t afford to have one of the slumps they’ve seen in recent seasons atop that line. Lucic was dreadful last regular season, but he’s skated better and has already scored five goals through nine games and is two goals away from matching his 46-game total from last season.

Of course, Eriksson’s absence doesn’t just require improved play from other lines; it requires improved play from the guy who’s stepping into his place on Patrice Bergeron’s line. Marchand played Thursday night back on Bergeron’s line, skating the right wing with Reilly Smith remaining on the left side. Marchand brought both good and bad, but, as has been the case all season, showed a propensity for turning the puck over.

The Eriksson injury also means that Jordan Caron is back in the lineup, and he created one of the few scoring opportunities the Bruins had Thursday when he stole the puck in the offensive zone in the second period and fed Gregory Campbell, who was denied by Niemi.

There were plenty of reasons for the Bruins to be happy to come out of Thursday night’s game with two points. For starters, they know they would have been fortunate to get one given how much San Jose controlled the game. Plus, they got a reminder that Tuukka Rask can steal a game for them. They also should be happy to have a top trio that should be feeling pretty good about themselves nine games into the season.

Without Eriksson, the Bruins undoubtedly will miss some star power. The Bruins still have that with guys like Lucic and Iginla, so it’s encouraging to see them producing with Krejci continuing to lead the way.

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

In the first hour of the show, Greg and Chris discuss the news coming out of the owners' meetings this week and rule changes. Belichick's blow-up over the league not wanting to spend on endzone cameras was well documented and the guys react. They also talk about the Jets ridiculous tampering charges, free agents still lingering out there, where Stevan Ridley will land and the RB position in New England. Dickerson and Price briefly discuss the adventures of Tom Brady before being joined by WEEI.com's Mike Petraglia to talk all things Pats in the offseason.

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

Peter Chiarelli joined the Sunday Skate crew to talk about the Bruins playoff push heading into the final handful of games of the regular season. Chiarelli talked about avoiding some of the overly negative feedback he gets while realizing that the team does have real issues. He discusses what went down at the trade deadline and if he was happy with the outcome, Lucic having a down year and underperforming, the salary cap and if he considers it as big of an issue as it's been made out to be and what the future holds for the team.

It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

With the Wells report seemingly wrapping up (we hope), Tim and Lou got to talking about possible fines and punishments the Patriots must face. It's possible that the Patriots will face a small fine, but should they take that laying down? The conversation brings out a little passion from BOTH sides.